Japan's Softbank in talks to buy controlling stake in Sprint Nextel for more than $19 bn: report

Japan's third-largest mobile phone company Softbank Corp is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Sprint Nextel Corp, the third-largest wireless carrier in the US, for over 1.5 trillion yen ($19 billion), the Nikkei newspaper today reported without saying where it got the information.

The move comes a week after the Tokyo-based company offered to buy its smaller rival, eAccess, for about ¥180 billion ($2.3 billion) in stock. (See: Japan's Softbank to acquire smaller rival eAccess for $2.3 billion)

The deal would give the fastest-growing Japanese mobile phone company an entry into the US market and a carrier that deploys similar equipment made by Ericsson, the report said.

Softbank, which introduced Apple's iPhone in Japan, has around 30 million users, compared to more than KDDI Corp, Japan's second-largest mobile carrier's 36 million customer base, but far below market leader NTT Docomo, which has 60.5 million users.

Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint Nextel operates in the US under the Sprint, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, payLo, and Assurance Wireless brands.

Sprint holds a 47.1-per cent stake in Clearwire Corporation and an 18 per cent interest NII Holdings (International Nextel), and has more than 55 million customers.

It posted net income of $2.8 billion in 2011 on revenues of $33.6 billion.